Senior Judge Thomas Gavin will rule next week on a motion filed by Penn State to postpone proceedings in the civil suit filed by former assistant football coach Mike McQueary, according to court documents.
The hearing will be held at 1 p.m. on Oct. 30 in the Annex Courtroom in Bellefonte, according to court documents.
The university filed the motion on Oct. 22, citing that moving forward with the trial while parallel proceedings with regard to other Penn State employees — current or former –– would put the university at a disadvantage, according to court documents.
A stay in the proceedings, attorneys for Penn State said according to the court documents, would not detriment McQueary’s case against the university.
According to court documents, if the stay is not granted, Penn State will be prejudiced due to other criminal proceedings that are currently underway, like the trials involving former Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley and former Interim Senior Vice President for Finance and Business Gary Schultz.
Both are charged with perjury and failure to report suspected child abuse in relation to grand jury testimony given by McQueary during the investigations surrounding former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.
University spokesman David La Torre said the university has no comment on the matter.
Sandusky was convicted of 45 counts of child sex abuse and is currently serving a minimum sentence of 30 years in prison.
Gavin was chosen to preside over the case on Oct. 18. Gavin currently presides in Chester County. Jim Koval, Communications Manager of the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, said on Oct. 18 that the judges from Centre County recused themselves and petitioned the administrative office of courts for an out-of-county judge, as previously reported.
The same situation occurred before the Sandusky trial.
After being placed on administrative leave after charges were filed against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, McQueary was not re-hired under new coach Bill O’Brien.
McQueary is suing the university in a whistleblower lawsuit for “ostracizing and isolating” him from a community where he spent the majority of his life, according to court documents.
McQueary is suing for more than $4 million citing defamation and misrepresentation –– an amount he could have earned had he been a football coach for the next 25 years, according to court documents.
Other money he is suing for include a bowl bonus, which he could have earned had he not been placed on leave, reimbursement for legal fees and full “back pay” or money he would have received as a full-time employee, according to court documents.
During Sandusky’s trial, McQueary testified for the prosecution saying he witnessed Sandusky doing something of a “sexual nature” with a boy in the showers of the Lasch Football Building in 2001.
Jury selection for both Curley and Schultz’s joint trial is scheduled to commence Jan. 7, 2013.
